Undermining game fences: who is digging holes in Kalahari sands?

The effectiveness of game fencing as a tool to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife is highly dependent on the maintenance of fences. It is vital to identify animal species, which dig holes under fences, and their digging behaviour to maintain game fences appropriately. We provide data on some of southern Africa's major hole-digging animal species for a simple albeit effective method enabling stakeholders to categorize species that are digging holes underneath game fences in deep sand habitats by species-specific knowledge on sizes and shapes of holes. Using Botswana's Khutse Game Reserve/Central Kalahari Game Reserve fence as an example, we highlight the temporal aspect in the process of hole digging and enlargement. We present a method to determine the pressure a fence experiences by a number of hole-digging species. Furthermore, we provide data on the time frame of necessary maintenance actions, required to prevent large predators from transgressing this specific fence line. We were especially interested in the effectiveness of fences in excluding African lions from human-dominated areas. The predators proved to be very difficult to fence in and extremely opportunistic. They mostly utilized holes that were initially excavated by other, even very small species.